JP2009518716A - Robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

The power saving robot system (100) includes at least one peripheral device (102) that is placed in an environment with a mobile robot (104). The peripheral device has a controller (1026) having an active mode (938) in which the peripheral device is fully operational and a hibernation mode (932) in which the peripheral device is at least partially inactive. The mobile robot (104) communicates with the peripheral device (102) via the wireless communication component (1024, 1044), and the wireless communication component (1024, 1044) of the peripheral device (102) and the robot (104). Have a control unit (1046) with an activation routine (904) that temporarily activates the peripheral device (102) from hibernation mode (932).

Description

  This application is based on US patent law for a US provisional patent application entitled “ROBOT NETWORKLINK, THEMING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM” filed on December 2, 2005 and assigned application number 60 / 741,442. Priority is claimed under section 119 (e), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

  The present invention relates to a robot system, and more particularly to a power saving robot system and a robot system network.

  An autonomous robot is a robot that can perform a desired work in an unstructured environment without continuous guidance by a person. Many types of robots are autonomous to some extent. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways. Autonomous effective range robots move across the work surface without continuous human guidance to perform one or more tasks. In the field of home, office and / or consumer oriented robotics, mobile robots have been widely adopted to perform housekeeping functions such as vacuum cleaning, floor cleaning, patrol, mowing and other such tasks. It was. An autonomous effective range robot system including an effective range robot and peripheral devices is generally powered by a battery. As a result, the battery life of each component of the system affects the overall system operability.

  The present disclosure is in one configuration that allows a robot to become a fully functional network node with a wireless bridge adapted to connect directly to a home wired network that provides direct presence and proxy to the robot. A robot capable of communicating with a base station and / or an Internet site via a wireless communication medium is provided.

  In one aspect, a power saving robot system includes at least one peripheral device located under an environment and a mobile robot. The peripheral device includes a power source, a wireless communication component, and a control device having an active mode in which the peripheral device is fully operational and a hibernation mode in which the peripheral device is at least partially inactive. The wireless communication component can be activated in hibernation mode. A mobile robot includes an environment, wireless communication components, and a drive system that moves the robot around a controller. The control device communicates with the peripheral device via the wireless communication component. Have.

  In one implementation, the wireless communication component communicates at a transmission wavelength that allows the robot and peripheral devices to go out of line of sight. Conversely, in other implementations, the wireless communication component communicates at a transmission wavelength that requires the robot and the peripheral device to enter the line of sight. In one example, the peripheral device cannot change from hibernation mode to active mode until the line of sight is between the robot and the peripheral device.

  The wireless communication component may communicate in a point-to-point protocol, excluding routines, or it may communicate a command that can be interpreted by a peripheral device to initiate a function. In one example, the wireless transmission carried by the robot wireless communication circuit includes identification information. Similarly, the wireless transmission conveyed by the peripheral device wireless communication circuit may also include identification information.

  In some implementations, the peripheral device may hear a robot ping during hibernation mode. Similarly, during hibernation mode, peripheral devices may poll a quiet robot. In one example, the peripheral device is a base station. In other examples, the peripheral device is a mobile device.

  In other implementations, the robot measures the signal strength of wireless transmissions transmitted by the wireless communication component of the peripheral device to determine the distance from the peripheral device. In one example, the wireless communication component transmits at a radio frequency.

  In one implementation, the robot controller determines the position of the robot based on information received via a robot's wireless communication component from a peripheral device, such as a beacon, placed in an area where the robot operates. The peripheral device is configured to transmit radio frequency identification information. For example, each location in the robot environment may include a beacon configured to send each location information wirelessly (eg, in an environment corresponding to a house, each “location” represents a room, May be installed with beacons that broadcast unique identification over radio frequency or other such media). The base station may be provided in at least one location, and the beacon may be configured to communicate with and relay data from and / or to the base station. It would be advantageous for such beacons and base stations to save power. The beacon listens to the robot's RF or IR, activates a start-up timer, actively RF or IR interrogated by the robot, or at the time elapsed since the last event or interaction number or frequency or feature. On the basis of this, by replacing with the combination, it may appear intermittently from low power “hibernation”. Further, the robot may operate the peripheral device according to the schedule or send schedule information to the peripheral device, and the peripheral device may start itself based on the schedule.

  In another aspect, a robot system includes a network data bridge and a mobile robot. The network data bridge includes a broadband network interface, a wireless command interface, and a data bridge component. The broadband network interface is connectable to an Internet protocol network and performs communication transferred according to the Internet protocol. The wireless command interface is connectable to a wireless command protocol network and performs communication transferred under the command protocol. The data bridge component extracts the serial command received via the broadband network interface from the internet protocol and applies the command protocol to it. The data bridge component listens to the narrowband wireless interface and sends the status of robots, peripherals, networks, and systems to the Internet via the broadband network interface. When long-term monitoring and analysis is performed, this information is automatically sent to the monitoring service via the Internet protocol. Actions / commands resulting from this analysis are injected into the narrowband wireless network by the RF bridge. These actions can include serial commands, new software images for the robot and / or peripheral devices, or queries for more detailed (debug) information that the robot can interpret and respond to. The data bridge component also broadcasts serial commands over the narrowband wireless interface. The mobile robot includes a drive system that moves the robot around the environment and a wireless command communication component that receives serial commands transmitted from the network data bridge.

  In certain implementations, the system also includes at least one peripheral device that is placed in the environment. The peripheral device includes a wireless command communication component that receives serial commands transmitted from the robot and the network data bridge. The peripheral device further includes a control device having an active mode in which the peripheral device is fully operational and a hibernation mode in which the peripheral device is at least partially inactive. The wireless communication circuit can be activated in hibernation mode.

  In other aspects, to interact with the user, the robot can receive and utilize customizable audio or other acoustic content. The robot receives the audible content and reproduces the audible content together with a specific robot function. In one example, the robot controls the robot's externally visible marks during user interaction and / or training mode, among other things, along with the playback of audible content, such as synthesized audio content.

  In yet another aspect, the robot includes an outer housing that is variable by a facade or customized coating. In one example, a home robot includes a replaceable molded plastic or metal body panel that is attached to the outside of the robot by snap-on fasteners, insertable mounting tabs and receivers, screws, magnetic anchors, and the like. The replaceable body panel associates acoustic content that can be uploaded to the robot. In one instance, the customized body panel includes an identification system for the robot to automatically download and / or use corresponding audible content. The identification system may include integrated circuits, characteristic resistors, barcodes, optical identifiers, RFID, passive magnetic resonance, or mechanical identification systems (eg, a series of holes or protrusions in the form of a punch card).

  The ability to customize a robot by transferring selected audio or multimedia schemes, themes, tones, music, sound or visual content, choreography or movement routines, or other data to the robot is the overall user gets from the robot Improve fun. In one aspect, a robot is configured to receive audible content through wireless transmission, a storage device configured to store audible content, and a speaker configured to emit audible content. And a mark that is controllable by the control device and that is configured to show operational information in a first mode and to show explanatory information in combination with audible content in a second mode. The mark may also include a light emitting diode and a power indicator configured to indicate the actual power status of the robot in the first mode and the training mode in the second mode. The robot may further include a speech synthesizer configured to synthesize verbal lessonal information based on audible content. Similarly, wireless transmission may be configured with a packet-coded transmission protocol. The robot further includes a customizable body panel that is removably attached to the home robot body, where the customizable body panel may correspond to the theme acoustic data contained in the audible content. is there.

  The robot may be configured to operate in at least first and second modes. The first mode corresponds to a normal robot operating situation that performs the primary function. The second mode corresponds to the training mode, where the speaker emits an audible training education program. In the second mode, the robot's mark is displayed according to a training style timed with an audible training / education program, where the training style displayed on the mark is the actual situation of the home robot. It is different from the operation mode corresponding to.

  In another aspect, a robot system includes a mobile robot and a wireless communication system for communicating with the robot. The wireless communication system includes a network interface unit that is communicatively connected to a first network and configured to wirelessly transmit data to the robot. The wireless communication system similarly includes a server configured to communicate with the network interface unit via the first network. The robot is configured to transmit data wirelessly from a wireless protocol to a network interface unit configured to convert the data to a network protocol used in the first network. The network interface unit transmits data to the server. The server may be configured to generate customer information based on robot usage, robot behavior, and / or data sent to the server. Similarly, a user terminal may be provided that is communicably connected to the first network and configured to control at least one function of the robot. The user terminal transmits a command corresponding to at least one robot function to the network interface unit via the first network. The network interface unit transmits a command to the robot wirelessly. User interaction is performed through this user interface, allowing further usage data to be collected. This offloaded interface likewise allows the robots to coordinate actions without having to communicate directly with each other. The robotic systems are functionally independent of each other but are connected via a server through a single user interface / data log / usage information collection server.

  In one example, a wireless communication system includes audible content stored at a server. The server is configured to transmit audible content to a network interface unit configured to transmit audible content wirelessly to the robot. Alternatively, the audible content may be stored on a user terminal that is configured to transmit the audible content to the network interface unit via the first network. The network interface unit is configured to wirelessly transmit audible content to the robot. Further, the content may be stored at a base station with which the robot is coupled for recharging and / or service.

The robot generation data may include theme data corresponding to audible content, where the server transmits the audible content to the robot via the network interface unit in response to the theme data. Alternatively, the data may include an operation theme configured to operate the robot according to the theme. The audible content may include audio data. Changes in behavior of other robots may be implemented based on long-term monitoring and analysis of robot generated data. (For example, if the robot fails to return to the dock before the battery has been dispensed three times in a row, the server modifies the behavior of the robot starting to look for the dock base station early. It will be corrected to "".)
The behavior is parameterized and can be modified or disabled / actuated based on usage / sensor information analysis. The robot performance can be corrected autonomously by the learning effect at the actual customer home. This can occur after the robot has been purchased and the server has been updated to provide the home performance characteristics of the robot. The wireless reporting infrastructure allows behavior-based telemetry changes to provide the best performance for a particular customer. The learning process is dynamic and can change as the understanding of the data increases.

  In one implementation, the wireless communication system includes a second user terminal configured to communicatively connect to the first network. The theme may be stored at the first user terminal that transmits the theme to the second user terminal via the first network. The first network may include, for example, UDP, TCP / IP, and / or Ethernet.

  In another aspect, a content distribution system for distributing data to a robot is configured to transmit data to the robot, a first server configured to be communicatively connected to the first network. User side nodes. The robot receives customizable content via the user side node. In one example, a content distribution system includes a network hub configured to use a protocol compatible with a first network, and a network adapter configured to communicatively connect the network hub with the first network. Further included. The user side node is configured to be detachably connected to the network hub. In another example, a data slot is installed on the robot and configured to receive a user side node. In yet another example, the content distribution system further includes a content server configured to communicate with the first network and to transmit audible content to the robot via the user-side node using the first network. Including. The content server transmits the content to the user-side node based on the information received from the first server (for example, the content supplied by the content server is music or sound, an image, “robomotion” in this specification). -Motion) ", such as" dance "movements or patterns that can be performed by a suitable type of mobile robot, such as a wheeled robot, or the copyright is held by a third party or the copyright holder of the content May contain approved content, such as may be the manufacturer or other organization). Similarly, the user side node of the content distribution system is configured to receive content from the server via the first network, and the user side node is configured to transmit content to the robot via the wireless communication protocol. In some cases.

  In some instances, the content distribution system further includes a user terminal configured to communicate via the first network and a content selection display presented at the user terminal. When selected from the content selection display on the user terminal, the customizable content is transmitted to the robot. The user-side node includes an Ethernet dongle or USB dongle (or “network bridge”) configured to removably connect to an Ethernet hub. The user side node is configured to receive the content via the Ethernet (registered trademark) hub, and configured to transmit the content to the robot via a second protocol different from the first network. (As used herein, the term “data bridge” refers to either a wireless, wired, or direct physical connection for a portable device to communicate and / or transmit data to a robot. Or any other dongle and / or pocketable and / or portable device that can properly communicate with the robot via any other suitable type.) Similarly, a user side node In some cases, content may be received from a data bridge or from a remote site using only a web browser, without a client application placed on the user terminal. Alternatively, a specific client application may be provided. The user side node may be configured to operate using power supplied via the first network. Customizable content may include audible content that is organized into related discrete audio themes.

  In other cases, the robot transmits information corresponding to the theme via the user side node to the server, and receives customizable content including relevant acoustic data by theme corresponding to the theme. In one implementation, the body of the robot includes a removable body panel having an acoustic / theme identification unit. The robot is configured to identify acoustic content and / or themes corresponding to the removable body panel via the theme identification unit. The second protocol may include a wireless transmission protocol (eg, ZigBee, 802.11a / b, wireless USB, serial over RF, AMPS, CDMA, GSM, Bluetooth, simplified or proprietary scheme, etc.).

  The content distribution system is installed on a robot whose acoustic data includes speech synthesis parameters (to change the robot's perceived “personality” or to better accept people with hearing loss in a specific frequency range, for example) In some cases, a speech synthesizer is further included.

  Similarly, the robot may further comprise robot firmware that is customized based on user feedback or robot sensor data processed by the server where robot firmware is downloaded from the server to the robot.

  The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

  Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

  FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a power saving robot system 100. System 100 includes peripheral device 102 and mobile robot 104. In this example, the mobile robot 104 is a cleaning robot such as a vacuum, brush, or mop robot. The peripheral device 702 transmits a wireless command to control the movement of the mobile robot 104. When the mobile robot 104 is out of the range of the peripheral device 102, the peripheral device 102 enters a hibernation mode or a low power consumption state. When the mobile robot 104 is out of range of the peripheral device 104, the radio transmitted by the mobile robot 104 operates the peripheral device 102 from hibernation mode. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 and the peripheral device 102 use a point-to-point protocol while communicating with each other. In some implementations, the peripheral device 102 is a base station, such as a device for recharging the mobile robot 104 or an outlet that emptyes the foreign material from the mobile robot 104.

  Referring to FIG. 1B, the mobile robot 104 includes a drive system 1042, a wireless communication component 1044, and a controller 1046. The drive system 1042 moves the mobile robot 104 around the environment, such as the floor to be cleaned. The wireless communication component 1044 communicates with the peripheral device 102. For example, the wireless communication component 1044 may receive a signal beam from the peripheral device 102, such as infrared (IR), radio frequency (RF), and / or acoustic signals. In some implementations, RF signals may be used to communicate when the peripheral device 102 and the mobile robot 104 are out of line of sight with each other. In some implementations, IR signals may be used to communicate when the peripheral device 102 and the mobile robot 104 are within the line of sight of each other. Further, the mobile robot 104 may use signal strength to determine the distance to the peripheral device 102. The signal may prohibit the movement of the mobile robot 104 through a specific area or direct the movement of the mobile robot 104 to a specific area. In addition, the controller 1046 uses the wireless communication component 1044 to temporarily operate the peripheral device 102 from a hibernation state, such as a low power consumption state. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 uses an IR signal or a line of sight form of communication to start the peripheral device 102 from hibernation mode. In one implementation, the mobile robot 104 sends an activation command in response to an inquiry from the peripheral device 102. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 sends an activation command either continuously or periodically.

  Referring to FIG. 1C, peripheral device 102 includes a power source 1022, a wireless communication component 1024, and a controller 1026. The power source 1022 may be an electric battery, for example. The power supply 1022 provides power to various functions of the peripheral device 102, such as generating navigation signal beams 106a-c. The wireless communication component 1024 generates a fence beam 106a, a left guide (or directional) beam 106b, and a right guide (or directional) beam 106c. The wireless communication component 1024 similarly receives wireless signals from the mobile robot 104. Controller 1026 activates one or more beams 106a-c during active mode and disables beams 106a-c in hibernation mode. In some implementations, the peripheral device 102 occasionally listens for activation commands from the mobile robot 104. In some implementations, the peripheral device 102 sends an activation pole to the mobile robot 104 to determine if it has become active. In this example, the fence or barrier beam 106a prevents the mobile robot 104 from passing through the area where the mobile robot 104 detects the fence beam 106a. Beams 106b-c assist in navigation of the mobile robot 104.

  In one implementation, the robot 104 includes a display panel 105 that provides electrical communication with the controller panel 1046. The display panel 105 includes a mark 1052 and a sound output device 1054. In one example, the mark 1052 includes a segmented illuminable maintenance display that substantially mimics the appearance of a robot. In another example, the mark 1052 includes a theme display that will be described in more detail later. The control device panel 1046 controls the illumination of the mark 1052 and the acoustic response from the acoustic output device 1054.

  The peripheral device 104 may be implemented with a plurality of capacities. For example, the peripheral device 102 may function as a fence. The peripheral device 102 may use a fence beam 106a in order to prevent the mobile robot 104 from passing through an area such as an entrance / exit. Similarly, the peripheral device 102 may function as a gate. The fence beam 106a may provide a gate that the mobile robot 104 does not pass during certain times, such as during room cleaning. When the mobile robot 104 finishes cleaning the room and passes the mobile robot 104, the peripheral device 102 may invalidate the fence beam 106a. Mobile robot 104 uses beams 106b-c to guide it through the area covered by the gate. For example, the peripheral device 102 may function as a trail marker or a navigation beacon. For example, as described above, the mobile robot 104 may use the beams 106b-c to navigate through an area such as a doorway. The beams 106a-c may include information such as an identifier (ID) of the peripheral device 102, an identifier of the beam type, and an indication of whether the peripheral device 102 is a gate or a fence. If this is a gate, the beam identification allows the robot 104 to determine whether it has detected the left or right guide beams 106a and 106b, respectively. Peripheral device identifiers allow the mobile robot 104 to distinguish the peripheral device 102 beams 106a-c from beams transmitted by other peripheral devices. The mobile robot 104 may be taught a path to an area such as a back room of a house (or may learn by itself) by following the peripheral device identifier format. The beam type identifier indicates whether the beam is a fence beam 106a, a left navigation beam 106b, or a right navigation beam 106c. If the beam is a fence beam 106a, the beam information may also indicate whether the beam functions as a gate that is opened when given the appropriate command or as a barrier that remains closed. In any case, while the mobile robot 104 is out of range, the peripheral device 102 is dormant and the beams 106a-c are inactive.

  The wireless communication component 1024 of the peripheral device 102 receives a signal from the wireless communication component 1044 of the mobile robot 104 to activate the peripheral device 102 from the hibernation state. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 transmits a first activation signal 108a to activate a first set of peripheral device beams, such as a fence beam 106a, while cleaning is in progress. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 uses a second activation signal 108b to activate a second set of peripheral device beams, such as navigation beams 106b-c, as the mobile robot 104 moves to another room. Send. In some implementations, signals 108a-b include mobile robot identifiers. The peripheral device 102 responds to the activation request from the mobile robot 104, for example, in response to the activation request from the first set of beams such as the fence beam 106a and the second mobile robot, the beam 106b- A mobile robot identifier may be used to activate a second set of beams such as c. In this example, by providing a mobile robot identifier with a fence to the mobile robot 104 and a gate to the second mobile robot, the peripheral device 102 can start the beam based on the mobile robot that requires activation. It becomes like this.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the robot system 200. The robot system 200 includes a mobile robot 104 and a network data bridge 202. In this example, the wireless communication component 1044 of the mobile robot 104 receives a serial command from the network data bridge 202, such as a radio frequency (RF) signal. Typically, these signals are transmitted by a network data bridge 202 or other such user-side node, which in turn is a home computer 206, laptop computer 208, cable / DSL / satellite / broadband. It may also be connected to an Ethernet router / switch / hub 204 with an adapter 210 or modem and one or more other computing devices such as a personal digital assistant 212, for example.

  In one example, a network data bridge 202 attached to an internet connection router 204 or an Ethernet port on a switch can be from a given internet or local server (eg, via BOOTP, DHCP, HTTP, FTP, and / or TFTP). ) Scripts may be downloaded automatically, thereby providing automatic commands such as device configuration or diagnostic tests to be performed. Alternatively or additionally, the user may manage the mobile robot 104 using a device such as the computer 206. The Ethernet-attached network data bridge 202 may provide configuration and operational functions via a small embedded HTTP server that is embedded in the firmware of the network data bridge 202. Devices other than the computer 206 may be a network server such as a set-top box, game console, PDA 212, mobile phone 214, or home server programmed to communicate using the web or other networked interface. It may be used similarly to connect.

  As an alternative, broadband access is provided via the USB port, as is provided by the computer 206. For example, a user may insert a CD-ROM into the computer 206 when plugging into a USB-based wireless transceiver to install drivers. Other connections such as IEEE 1394 / Firewire, RS-232, parallel port connections, and / or x10 may be used. However, these are not necessarily network data bridges.

  Once the network data bridge 202 is attached to a network accessible device 204, it can contact the server.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a robotic system 700 that includes a manufacturer server 702 and an authorized content provider server 704. The manufacturer server 702 and content provider server 704 may be connected to the broadband modem 210 via the Internet 706 or other suitable network. The mobile robot 104 may report information such as the state of the mobile robot 104 or usage data about the mobile robot 104 to the server 702. Server 702 may store the reported data in repository 708. The reported data may be associated with information regarding the user of the mobile robot 204. User information may be stored in the repository 710.

  Further, the network data bridge 202 may connect to the mobile robot 104 wirelessly and start communication using it. The Ethernet hub 204 includes an 802.11 wireless Ethernet connection with four wired Ethernet ports, and network data using 802.11 or other such wireless network protocol. In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 and the network data bridge 202 are not a full-weight network protocol, and the mobile robot 104 and the base station communicate with the mobile robot 204 from a base station other than via a bridge. A simple sequential RF protocol is used to exchange information with the station.

  In some implementations, the mobile robot 104 may be further simplified by providing the mobile robot 104 with a receive-only function instead of two-way wireless communication support. However, as an alternative, the mobile robot 104 may include full two-way wireless communication support to transmit information from the mobile robot 104 to the base station (eg, to a user, manufacturer, etc.). is there.

  Manufacturers may receive real-world mobile robot data for product improvement and research and development. For example, the mobile robot 104 collects data regarding the mode of operation (eg, the number of errors encountered, the number of times the mobile robot 104 has stopped moving, or the frequency at which the mobile robot 104 has been used) and collects such information. For example, it may be forwarded to the mobile robot manufacturer to improve market research and generate future models of the mobile robot 104 by correcting design flaws or equipment issues. In addition, customer information such as robot usage frequency, name, customer ID, and the like may also be associated using information transferred from the mobile robot 104 to the manufacturer's website via wireless and wired networks.

  Furthermore, in order to physically connect the mobile robot 104 for software upgrades, software updates, etc., the user must position the mobile robot 104 with respect to the base station and carry it, for example. Alternatively, a wireless update function may be provided by the network data bridge 202 to update robot firmware or other on-board software, personality, audio, and / or display images. Similarly, a user may design a theme or other content and cause the mobile robot 104 to transmit this content via a wireless communication channel provided by the network data bridge 202.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a network data bridge. The network data bridge 202 includes a network connector 302, such as an RJ-11 style male Ethernet connector. Similarly, the network data bridge 202 includes an antenna 304 such as a sealed internal antenna that is operatively driven by a wireless command interface 306 that is then connected to a data bridge component 308 (a mobile 104 robot is similarly It may include a sealed internal antenna, or one or both of the network data bridge 202 and / or the mobile robot 104, for example, either in addition to or instead of the internal antenna. One or more external antennas may be included). The data bridge component 308 manages and converts incoming and outgoing broadband data (such as Ethernet, 802.11b, and / or TCP / IP packets) from and to the wireless simplified network protocol. And connected to the broadband network interface 310. The data bridge component 308 extracts serial commands received by the broadband network interface 310 and sends the commands via the wireless command interface 306 and antenna 304 using the RPAN protocol.

  The network data bridge 202 is plugged directly into the owner's broadband router 204. The network data bridge 202 obtains network information set from a DHCP server or optionally by an advanced user. The network data bridge 202 calls a home (that is, a home robot manufacturer or a reseller's Internet server) with local configuration information (serial number, local network properties, etc.). The network data bridge 202 starts polling a preset URL with a periodic HTTP post. Each post includes status information about the mobile robot 104 at the customer's home. This data can be robot / firmware specific and the network data bridge 202 need not understand the data itself (although in some implementations it understands the data itself).

  The CGI script that receives the post processes this sensor report, generates a historical view of the robot system and updates the internal database. A software-based virtual sensor examines this database (per robot) and initiates events such as virtually pressing a button on the robot or causing its owner to initiate an email.

  The owner uses a valid web browser of a modem, ie, Java® Script (or some other suitable description language such as Visual basic, pyson, PERL, Php, etc.) to use the home robot manufacturer's web. There is also a case where a user account is generated. As part of the registration process, the customer enters a unique key sent over the wireless data bridge. This unique key is paired with the incoming sensor stream with this user account.

  After registration, the user may be sent to the portal page. This page is dynamically generated using the information already supplied by the robot gateway and the product information and cross-sell items supplied by the manufacturer's server back-end infrastructure.

  The owner browses to a theme or content store and purchases an acoustic theme with immediate online delivery. The theme or content store contacts the robot sensor database and adds the command line “Download this content to Robot # 2”. When the gateway device next posts sensor data, the HTTP response is a command for downloading the attached content data to the designated robot. The wireless data bridge begins to transfer this binary stream to the robot via RF. Upon completion, the gateway may send a download notification with the next sensor report.

  During this transaction, Java ™ Script (or other suitable script) embedded in the owner's web interface polled the backend server for state updates. Progress bars are drawn and animated using Java ™ Script and DHTML (or Ruby on Rails, Java ™ applet, or other suitable display engineering). Users may feel as though they are updating directly with the robot via a web page, regardless of the level of software and the non-direction of communication between them.

  In one implementation, the wireless data bridge 202 is an Ethernet patch cable (or other such network cord) plugged from a suitable network connection point and / or, for example, a connection portion of a home robot. May include a female port to which is attached. As an example of a system as described above, these communication channels provide a mechanism for retrieving sensor data and sending commands to robots in the field by piggybacking on a broadband connection.

  Such a two-way communication system allows for the deployment of online services and enables retrieval of sensor data from the manufacturer's installation base for improved customer service and system characteristics. In addition, the manufacturer may further enhance the understanding of how the robot and individual subsystems are implemented in the field.

  In some embodiments, network-enabled mobile robot 104 interaction at the customer's home may occur through a web browser. Web browser access provides support for robotic interaction via non-PC devices (eg, mobile phones and PDAs) in the corresponding browser.

  FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a mobile robot 104 that includes a network data bridge 202. In this example, the network data bridge 202 is a card that is inserted into the interface slot 602 of the mobile robot 104. This type of network data bridge is autonomous and can either be software, video, or audio, either on the user's computer or manufacturer with a special writing unit to supply content such as theme content, for example. Can send data in a configuration RAM, ROM, flash, or EEPROM type storage device (which may load content), or load a code number that allows wireless download to the network data bridge 202, or In some cases, it may be coupled to the network via wired or wireless Ethernet.

  "Memory Stick" type (serial port interface) network data bridge 202 is a mobile robot user without an Ethernet hub or internet connection, or a user who cannot purchase content online with a credit card, or in a store Sometimes they simply come to a set of content and make impulse purchases or provide content to people who want to buy gifts for others. Further, similar to the network data bridge implementation discussed above, a user may plug the “memory stick” type network data bridge 202 directly into an outlet 602 defined by the mobile robot 104, and the network data bridge 202 Since the content of the content may be automatically uploaded to the mobile robot 104, the use of a personal computer is not necessarily required. See, for example, US patent application Ser. No. 11 / 166,518, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

  FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the mobile robot 104 and an example of a network data bridge 202 that connects to another network via a network that passes over a power line in the building. The network data bridge 202 may be configured to plug into a standard power outlet 604 or participate in a home power line network, for example, in a home or market where Ethernet network components are not available. . Alternatively, the network data bridge 202 may be plugged into a standard telephone wall jack, for example, for communication via a home telephone network. In some implementations, the network data bridge 202 is plugged into either an Ethernet port, a power socket 604, or a telephone wall jack to connect to the Internet and / or the mobile robot 104 (if available). There are cases where auto-negotiates. For this reason, a number of "Home Ethernet over Home Lines" and similar schemes or products are widely produced and known in the art, for example, as an early commercial effort in this technical field, X10 Standards, for example, encode a single bit of information at each zero point in the 120V (RMS) @ 60Hz power cycle that is common in North America to enable communication over the power line, and many newer Ethernet models Although power line network systems are commercially available, each networked device typically connects to the network via an electrical socket on the wall. A common property is that the network data bridge can send serial commands and data from a built-in broadband protocol (Ethernet, TCP / IP, 802.11x) for transmission over a local wireless robotic network (RPAN). Similarly, such commands and data are incorporated from the RPAN for transmission on the broadband network.

  Wireless data bridge 202 provides web server functionality and may provide static or active web content corresponding to valid mobile robot 104 belonging to a mobile robot user. Such web server functions are provided on the mobile broadband user's local broadband network, eg, as found by the mobile robot user when browsing in a local area network, eg, TCP / IP, There may be broadcasts that can be found using UDP, Ethernet, SNMP, NetBEUI, IPX, SMB or uPnP broadcasting network announcements, or the user may be sent to a web server on the network data bridge 202 To reach the data bridge 202, a static network address (such as a standard, pre-configured IP address) is simply entered by typing the static network address into a web browser. Ri some cases also devoted. Web content may be active or static, tailored to the functionality provided, and / or updated over the Internet or local network.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robot system 200 having a content supply system for transmitting content to a mobile robot. A system 200 for accessing home robot related content and controlling the home robot via the Internet includes an embedded web server, an online presence accessible as a service content provider, and a robot 104 in the customer's home. May include a specific web-based user interface. These components may be used, for example, to communicate events over the Internet to an online “robot presence” generated by a home robot manufacturer. This “robot presence” may provide interactivity with the user's home robot (audible content or other type of theme and / or content download, remote button press, etc.) via the host's web service. Events communicated in this way include, among other things, sensor value changes, user interactions, commands to the robot, and state changes. Utilizing a two-way communication channel (such as a wireless robotic network communication channel) creates powerful capabilities in a mix between a robot in someone's home, a repository of procedures and information on a remote server, and a web-based robot user interface (E.g., performing a large amount of crunching or computational work on a separate computer or server and simply uploading / downloading results and / or sensor inputs to and from the home robot itself) It is possible to create new functions such as adding off-road "intelligence" to other simple robots. In fact, communicating the communication structure of the local robot system over the Internet or other suitable network allows the backend server to interact with the robot in the user's home.

  The data bridge 202 may send local network information to the Internet server. As a non-limiting example, a user may connect to the Internet 706 and be directed to a local bridge where appropriate. By publishing known internet addresses that the bridge and / or user may access, the need to know the user's local information may be eliminated.

  In addition to the network data bridge 202, the wireless remote control device may provide a plurality of similar wireless functions for controlling or managing the mobile robot 104. The wireless remote control device may communicate directly with the mobile robot 109 via infrared (IR) or RF protocol, or, for example, the mobile robot 104 is not in view and the remote control device is the network data bridge 202. The command may be relayed through the network data bridge 202 when it is within the IR signal range. Similarly, the network data bridge 202 may include an IR sensor that receives a mobile robot control command from a wireless remote control device, and then relay the command to the mobile robot 104 wirelessly. For example, the embedded web server is used internally by the mobile robot 104 in a persistent online presence (and similarly to the mobile robot 104 by translating the internal communication protocol into HTTP post and GET transactions. In some cases, dedicated or special communication methods (used by additional accessories) are bridged.

  Online presence generates a web-based user interface that incorporates Java Script components to asynchronously poll the mobile robot 104 for changes in state (eg, battery voltage). In some cases. This Java (registered trademark) Script may capture changes in robot characteristics non-simultaneously and rewrite the content in the page. Sensor values can be refreshed by a web browser, for example, without the customer having to click refresh on the browser.

  The web-based interface may use customer hacking and persistent robotic sensor data to pair the mobile robot 104 between the customer account and the current user interface for customer-owned equipment.

  In addition, a series of peripheral devices 102 may be located at home or throughout other locations, for example, set up as a relay network exiting from a base station, and then commands relayed from the remote control device may also be remote control devices. In some cases, the entire beacon network is relayed to reach a home robot located far away from the home.

  The radio band (in particular in the unauthorized band, such as 900 MHz, 2.5 GHz, or other suitable public RF band) is itself limited, eg, multiple mobile robots and / or network data Bridges, WiFi, BlueTooth, X10, mobile or mobile phones or other common wireless devices, and / or interference from sources such as sunlight, RF emissions from wires, fluorescent lights, or other RF interferers A plurality of RF devices) further limit the effective amount of bandwidth available for wireless mobile robot communication, or the degree of reliability of the bandwidth, and thus the network bridge 202 and / or the mobile robot. In order to enhance the functions of 140, reliability and postponement measures may be taken. Network data bridge 202 and / or mobile robot 104, to give priority to other wireless devices, it may be set to reduce the consumption of the available bandwidth. For example, with regard to the reliability of wireless robotic network communications, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and / or hash routines (such as MDS sum or CRAM) or other suitable reliability techniques (such as parity or error correction code (ECC)) , May be used in data bridge to robotic channels and / or internet connection channels (eg, in Ethernet to data bridge channels). Further, to limit the use of valuable bandwidth during business or other peak usage times, the network data bridge 202 and / or the mobile robot 104 can be used for theme content, usage activation data, or night time or off-peak. It may be scheduled to send other such communications during time, or, for example, the network data bridge 202 and / or the mobile robot 104 (and / or the manufacturer's server) (actually Or by way of a non-limiting example, collecting data on bandwidth usage per unit time per day over a series of days or weeks, then determining the approximate minimum usage time of the day ) Off-peak automatically detected by detecting when bandwidth usage is minimized Communication use time (or, summarizes their communications) in some cases are scheduled to perform. The reliability strategy is, for example, at the network and / or application layer, or both, or any other suitable layer in the communication stack (such as a data bridge using UDP over the Internet for simplicity and less important communication). The web server uses complete error checking, reliability and / or error correction strategies, windowing, etc.

  In addition, the functionality of the web server in such a data bridge is based on known networks (such as fixed IP addresses or uniform resource locators (URLs)) in view of problems arising with, for example, DHCP and dynamic JP address assignment. The web server on the network data bridge 202 can communicate with an address or location, and thus the mobile robot 104 maintains relatively little network functionality on the mobile robot 104 itself (this Such capabilities are offloaded to the network data bridge 202 in large numbers), as in many examples (eg, via a wireless connection) active against “server” like resources available to the mobile robot 104 Access and / or poll For, the substantial time portion, in some cases operate in a manner similar to the client.

  Web server functions include FTP, FTPS, TFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, GOPHER, TELNET, DTCT, FILE and LDAP, HTTP post, HTTP PUT, FTP upload, HTTP form-based upload, proxy, cookie, user + password authentication (Basic, Mobile via a suitable protocol or standard such as Digest, NTLM, Negotiate, Kerberos4), file transfer regime, HTTP proxy tunnel, and / or other suitable network methods (eg, methods supported by libcurl) Network communication with the robot 104 and / or Internet server may be established. The network data bridge 202 broadcasts the presence of the network data bridge 202 to other devices on the same network, such as uPnP, dynamic DNS, reverse ARP, Ethernet or UDP or TCP / IP broadcast, or other devices on the same network. Other suitable methods may be used.

  By offloading most of the server functions from the mobile robot 104 to the network data bridge 202 and using the network data bridge 202 as a communication proxy, mirror, and gateway, the mobile robot 104 is similarly in other cases. Protected from excessive client requests that may waste its processing and / or bandwidth resources. For example, the mobile robot 104 may generate 30 visual snapshots from one mounted camera in one time period (for example, 10 minutes). Next, if a plurality of objects attempt to download a snapshot from the mobile robot 104 at the same time, the mobile robot 104 may stop because the wireless network is full of service request traffic. However, as an alternative, the mobile robot 104 is accessed only from one object, and as a known measure of polling requests, the network data bridge 202 thus secures the mobile robot's bandwidth and processing power, while For example, copying the collected data to an Internet server for wider access may allow such data to be replicated.

  In addition to RF band wireless communication, the network data bridge 202 (and / or the mobile robot 104 or peripheral device 102) may have other suitable frequencies and / or bands in the electromagnetic spectrum, such as 900 Mhz, 2.4 GHz microwave frequency. Or, it may be transmitted in another suitable band. In order to mitigate these or other interference that may occur in the RF or other bands, the mobile robot 104 and / or the network data bridge 202 is connected to other unlicensed RF applications (phones, baby monitors, etc.). In order to avoid interference, frequency shift, spread spectrum, subchannel techniques, and / or other such interference avoidance schemes or techniques may be used.

  In addition, robot commands may be sent by the network data bridge 202. Additional functionality may be provided to the user in the form of issuing remote commands while away from home. Thus, if the home robot owner forgets to incorporate or activate a schedule on the mobile robot 104 prior to a business trip, the mobile robot user can connect to the network data bridge 202 via the Internet or other suitable network. Provided by a mobile robot manufacturer that translates information received from the Internet and then received from the Internet into corresponding wireless robot network commands and transmits the commands wirelessly to the mobile robot 104 for execution. A schedule may be incorporated into the mobile robot 104 remotely or further activated via a command generated by the mobile robot interaction website (for example).

  In some implementations, a series of robot commands for timing and execution of movements, etc. are grouped into a “dance” routine, and after the user selects “dance” from a website maintained on the mobile robot manufacturer server, the move To be sent to the robot 104 or to provide a “dance” multimedia “dance”, music and light show (among other things, light emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid crystal displays, and / or background light. May be combined with audible content such as music or voice and / or commands to control the marks. Further non-limiting examples include, for example, telephone calls or the Internet or, for example, appropriate computing, recording, mixing and sending and receiving hardware and software (and both over the air and over the Internet, and more appropriate pauses and synchronizations) In addition, there is also raw troubleshooting or technical support provided to the mobile robot user that is initiated through a microphone and speaker installed as part of the mobile robot 104. Further, for example, a camera may be included to enhance these virtual interactions and / or encoded video transmitted from the robot via a wireless link to the network data bridge 202, especially to a network destination. In addition, in an implementation in which a proximity camera is set to function as a virtual spectrum camera, a proximity sensor that is normally used for obstacle detection in other modes may be used as a general-purpose observation camera.

  Similarly, to send robot usage and motion information to the mobile robot manufacturer server, mobile robot 104 uses battery, recharge frequency, amount of time used to perform key tasks, and free space. Data relating to the amount of time used in the time, the frequency at which the robot stops, etc. may be collected and this data may be sent periodically to the mobile robot manufacturer's server via the network data bridge 202.

  Furthermore, the ability to transmit audible content to the mobile robot 104 either via the network data bridge 202 or via a “memory stick” type data bridge allows the mobile robot 104 to be used at the time and place of use. It is possible to “speak” instructions to 104 users directly. For example, the mobile robot 104 may speak instructions during a demo mode that is activated to initially show various characteristics that the mobile robot 104 can implement. Voice instructions to the mobile robot user can be sent to the mobile robot 104 with encoded audible content (installing such audible content into the read-only memory (ROM) of a home robot at the time of manufacture or wirelessly. Transmitted, or otherwise stored (for example, by storing audible content in flash RAM) and played by an onboard decoder and / or synthesizer and speaker provided in the mobile robot 104 It is done. Synthetic speech encoded for decoding by speech synthesis hardware requires less storage than non-synthesized speech, but as an alternative, natural or computer speech is encoded (and / or psychoacoustic). May be recorded as a waveform (analogically encoded) and transmitted to the mobile robot 104 for storage and subsequent playback. Alternatively, on the other hand, the sound for reproduction on the mobile robot 104 is similarly a WAV file or a compressed audio file (for example, Lempel-Zev-Welch (LZW), or for example, MP3 or Winds It may be encoded (using compression, such as other techniques that are less computer intensive than media (WMV) decoding).

  As another example, using a synthesizer, phoneme string files downloaded to the mobile robot 104 can be synchronized or asynchronous parallel motion events, light (or other marks) and / or such phoneme styles and It may include tags that trigger asynchronous audio using storyboards, eg, animated storyboard files, and / or may be associated with themes, “he-ll ha-w [here asynchronous ballistic behavior. A-re y-ou ”thus indicates the associated“ bow ”robot motion (eg, thematic“ dance ”or mobile robot) In some cases, the starting behavior) can be started. Further, if voice recording hardware such as a microphone and voice processing hardware are similarly installed in the mobile robot 104 with sufficient processing or transmission capabilities, the mobile robot 104 may receive voice commands from the mobile robot user or In order to recognize other interactions, including speech recognition capabilities, and the storyboard capabilities discussed above include responses and references to any of the functions or capabilities that can be performed by the mobile robot 104; Sometimes it is coded.

  The RF system, network data bridge 202, remote control device, and / or peripheral device 102 used by the mobile robot 104 is arranged in four locations located on the mobile robot 104, remote control device, peripheral device 102, and network data bridge 202. It may also include a wireless transceiver module. The remote control may use RF to send control signals to the mobile robot 104 using a bi-directional or unidirectional protocol, and similarly, the remote control unit allows the user to control the mobile robot 204. In some cases, the schedule data generated by the remote control unit can be transmitted while being “driven”. The mobile robot 104 may use RF to activate the peripheral device 102 and manage power using a bidirectional protocol. The network data bridge 202 may use RF to transmit data and code data updates to the mobile robot 104 and upload diagnostic data from the mobile robot 104 using a bidirectional protocol. Further, when the network data bridge 202 is operating with a plurality of peripheral devices, the mobile robot 104 can be connected to the network data bridge 202 when the peripheral device and the network data bridge 202 can maintain an RF or other communication channel in a relay manner. Even beyond the direct RF range, wireless robotic network communications between the network data bridge 202 and the mobile robot 104 may be propagated along peripheral device connections. The effective range of the wireless robot network can be extended by links of peripheral devices.

  The 2.4 GHz ISM may be used with either direct-sequence or frequency hop spread spectrum transmission techniques. In addition, either a custom proprietary protocol based on the implementation of the standard 7 layer OSI model is used, or the ZigBee 802.15.4 standard protocol may be used instead. Custom protocols may allow, for example, proper regulatory compliance in all countries of interest, or may be appropriate for each anticipated country market.

  The following single chip integrated RF transceiver radio modules are examples of chipsets used to implement the RF system: Chipcon CC2500; Chipcon CC2420; Freescale MC13191; Freescale MC13192. The printed circuit “F” style antenna design may be used without external RF power amplification or with appropriate RF power amplification, depending on range and power requirements.

  With respect to the dedicated robot-net RF protocol, this protocol may be simpler than Zigbee, for example, in that Zigbee has two parts, a signal part (IEEE 802.15.4) and an application (routine, etc.). Alternatively, a proprietary robot-net protocol may use 802.15.4 to reduce the cost of goods for antennas, microcontrollers, etc., depending on the standard. However, the prescribed robot-net may deviate from Zigbee (a network with routines) at least in that it is a point-to-point network. Under Zigbee, a node is required (in some cases) to pass traffic for other nodes, but this operation can cause excessive load on lighthouses, remote controls, RF data bridges, etc. May also provide a response. Robot-net RF includes low-density protocols that report messages such as WAKEUP, GO_CLEAN (robot-n), ERROR (robot-n, i-am-stack), etc., simply by having a robot or beacon controller In some cases.

  By reducing complexity, it may be possible to reduce the amount of storage on some elements of the network (eg, 8K). As an example, a lighthouse may have an 8 Kbyte program storage device. Point-to-point protocols may be simpler than Zigbee because they do not support routines for traffic from endpoints other than home robot products, data packet encryption, or many other characteristics required for meshing . On this packet transport layer, the robot-net is unique (the lighthouse may be turned on and off by the robot's additional protocol, but may be configured to use the protocol) and the robot controller and monitor In some cases, a specific message may be defined. This control device, as a non-limiting example, is unique even when ZigBee is implemented to form part of the application layer.

  In some cases, at least one of the endpoints is mobile. Instantaneous signal strength, or signal strength over time, as a non-limiting example, informs the robot whether the robot is moving in the right direction or is in the wrong mode, for example by supplying additional data, Can be used to help the robot navigate or modify beacon based navigation.

  For voice and multimedia, the demonstration mode is used when the mobile robot 104 is first used (then, accompanying data is discarded, for example, to free up system resources), or an appropriate “demo” button. Is executed only once, for example, but the demo mode may include multiple audio files described in a sequence, where the script is not necessarily an interpreted script and is appropriate Sometimes it simply represents a linear routine coded in such a way. The script may turn on lights and buttons that are visible on the mobile robot 104, emit a sound, and cause the mobile robot 104 (such as spot cleaning) to be considered to demonstrate. Demo scripts can illuminate and act directly on lights or other marks, or generate false push / sensor events within the robot's computer control system to trigger the appropriate marks and / or actions There is also a possibility. For example, to initiate a spot cleaning demo, the voice routine can tell the user to now press spot cleaning (or send a false button press to the UI controller, which is normal The other button, for example, a stagnation / stuck response demo, sends a false signal to the virtual sensor by telling the mobile robot 104 that it is stuck, etc. May be started by forwarding), then wait for a period of time before reasserting control over the rest of the demo. The demo may detect that the user has pressed the wrong button and may, for example, re-instruct the user as well.

  Examples of “robomotion” that can be sent alone or as part of a theme or bundle (replaceable with “animotion”) include new features such as spot cover, wall travel, and vertical vibration modes of operation US Patent by Jones et al. Under the title "Method and System for Multi-Mode Coverage for Autonomous Robots", including the implementation of at least a portion of a mobile robot according to the present invention. No. 6,809,490, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

  Further, according to an example, the mobile robot 104 may include a speaker for playing audible content, a wireless or direct link to the network data bridge 202 for receiving audible content, and a processor (eg, for playing audible content). A voice synthesizer, a MIDI chipset and / or a frequency modulation (FM) unit, etc.). Audible content can have important functions, and in a non-limiting example, an alarm siren sound to provide a clear signal when the mobile robot 104 detects a potentially dangerous situation, such as vacuum motor overheating. May be downloaded, or a series of slowly spoken instructions may provide more understandable instructions for using the mobile robot 104 to mobile robot users who are difficult or incapable of hearing. In addition, audible content and / or themes may provide instructions or other stories in any of a variety of human languages or dialects, and in addition, regions, countries, languages, cultures, occupations, characters, or others In some cases, motion or motion-based content that is associated with or included in such a theme is also appropriately associated. For example, the “Ballerina” theme provides spoken language instructions that reflect accents resembling French accents and, among other things, pirouettes, spirals, octagons, and other movements similar to dancers performing ballet on the mobile robot 104 May also be associated with a body-covering set that suggests a leotard, for example, to enhance the theme effect.

  It is also possible to particularly link a certain content to a certain operation. For example, if the mobile robot 104 performs a certain “robomotion” or trick (or, for example, a less cheerful or stopped state), such as a chess game, may it play “William Tell Overture”, Alternatively, it may be helpful to detect that the mobile robot 104 is lost and has lost communication with any beacon, network data bridge 202 or home base, or is otherwise stuck or obstructed. There may be a sad cry that calls for.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a main body panel theme for the mobile robot 104. Mobile robot 104 is “themed”, customizable, snap-on, or otherwise replaceable to allow mobile robot users to identify their mobile robot It may also include external panels 502a-b. As an example, the body panel may be molded from plastic and later painted, dyed, or covered with an adhesive material, with the appropriate type of coloring, design, or style drawing on it, May be used where appropriate. As an example, a design is made inside a transparent sheet-like polymer material, and then the polymer sheet or body panel is applied as a body panel to a molded plastic piece, and as a result, the design is protected by a transparent polymer sheet On the other hand, the “Just in time” (JIT) distribution strategy sometimes involves rapid theme assignment of the main body panel. The panel may also be customized with user content, for example printed on a suitable material by inkjet. For example, a user may upload a photo that can be adapted to a template, and a JIT-created shell (e.g., a modified or customized theme can be quickly incorporated by the user into the server, e.g., uploaded user A Christmas panel with the sound of a Christmas carol sung by your family) may be created and delivered at the appropriate time.

  In addition, the replaceable body panels 502a-b may include an identification system corresponding to audible or other thematic content that is transmitted to the home robot to complete the theme effect. For example, the body panel includes electrical contacts 504 that are disposed along the inner edges of the panels 502a-b so as to contact corresponding electrical contacts on the mobile robot 104 when installed. The electrical contacts 504 on the body panels 502a-b may be integrated circuits (ICs) that output a voltage format corresponding to a unique theme ID number, and / or a specific resistor 508 that similarly corresponds to a particular theme ID 510a-b. Operatively connected to a suitable electrical identification unit. Alternatively, the body panel 502a-b can be an RFID or passive magnetic device, a mechanical ID mechanism such as a punch card-like series of holes or peaks, an optical ID system such as a barcode or characteristic color, or a corresponding theme of the body panel. Other types suitable for identification may also be included. As discussed herein, the ID can be transmitted back to the network data bridge 202 by the mobile robot 104 as an authentication or identification for downloading the corresponding thematic firmware, multimedia, etc. to the mobile robot 104.

  As a default action, if the body panel cannot be identified by the mobile robot 104 sensor, the mobile robot 104 may, for example, reject potentially thematic content as potentially unauthorized or, conversely, Any theme material may be accepted if there is little concern about unauthorized thematic content.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robotic system 800 that includes a supplier 802 and a manufacturer server 804 (as acoustic or other content types). System 802 functions as a content distribution system, where supplier 802 is an authorization and safety verification system as a backend to a consumer oriented website managed by a robot manufacturer (“electronic commerce site” 810). Distribute permitted content to mobile robots ("consumer robots") under ("Big Brother" 806, "CRM" 808). In this example, “Rtoon” may mean distributable content, for example, regardless of sound or other thematic material.

  Similarly, if the identification of the theme corresponding to the installed main body panel is required, the mobile robot 104 detects the detected theme on the server of the mobile robot manufacturer via the wireless robot network data bridge 202 and the Internet, for example. In some cases, information related to the ID is transmitted wirelessly. Next, the server determines whether the audible or other content corresponding to the transmitted theme ID is available, and if it is available, is the corresponding content properly paid or authorized? Etc. are determined. If all the determinations are affirmative, the server, for example, via the Internet and network data bridge 202 (such as a set of acoustic data arranged as a voice theme and / or a set of robot “dance” commands, a mark style, etc. ) Send the corresponding content to the mobile robot 104, or the server may send an “unencrypted” to decrypt the encrypted content that is already in the mobile robot 104 and / or otherwise the restricted content. Send a "lock code" or encryption key or, for example, the mobile robot manufacturer's server (eg belonging to a third party, eg under permission and electronic distribution agreement with the mobile robot manufacturer) ) To a separate content server such data, the appropriate ID that sent the theme ID In some cases to be sent to Doshiki robot.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robot system 400 that includes mobile robots 104a-c, in which a computer 206 transmits a theme to the mobile robots 104a-c. A mobile robot user may receive new or updated music, visuals, choreography, or other such themed content corresponding to a theme body panel provided on the mobile robot. A website 402 displayed on a personal computer (PC) has three sets of music “A” 404a, “B” 404b, or “C” 404c for transmission to or activation of the mobile robots 104a-c. Give a selection of content.

  Similarly, thematicization may be expanded for content within a theme, for example, if the robot has multiple sound files or “earcons” is loaded (eg, in a manner such as MIDI), then Choosing the “Steel Drum” theme includes a rock ballad because the theme includes instrument elements that replace standard instruments usually played in earcons or audio files (eg, MIDI instruments or a suitable style as well). As a non-limiting example, a Caribbean anthem may be “themed”.

  With respect to theme content, various interdependent (or independent) content types (eg, but not necessarily limited to voice, body cover, choreographed “dance” movement, action response profile, etc.) Combining (as an example) makes it possible to have a highly thorough influence of the theme on the user. Voices such as background music played while the home robot is idle or working, "earcons", that is, a car collision when the robot's collision sensor detects a collision with an obstacle Conveys meaning, such as “earcon” or a robot that plays the phrase “feed me!” As an earcon, especially when the robot's cleaning agent or other consumable bottle is empty Dogs that are awakened or excited when the “home dog” theme robot interrupts hibernation mode or recharge mode when a voice that is played when it is started or a voice corresponding to a morning newspaper delivery is detected In order to draw the user's attention in a simulated manner, go to the user's bedroom and close to the user's bed. In a “barking”, “s” -shaped or semi-random pattern of movement (or by repeatedly rotating the robot ’s buttocks back and forth and “shaking the tail,” such as daily or monthly actions or actions. Behave like a parrot, for example, a parrot (eg in combination with other parrot theme content such as a feathered body cover, “twitter” voice and a parrot-like walk), with the on-board microphone. Communicate via a “listen” activation routine and / or a wireless network that repeats detected, recently done words (eg, in a distorted, noisy manner that mimics a real parrot) Network access style for equipped robots (with a wide range of thematic content types As an example, for example, the “Spy” theme may be combined with various other theme content, for example, for various periods of time when the “Spy” robot is expected to maintain “complete wireless silence”. As a trivia quiz presenter by downloading questions and / or answers presented to the user's customers while playing in a party game, for example, In fact, these quiz questions and answers or game rules may themselves be grouped into themes in a static fashion, set to search frequently for updates from network sources to fulfill Similarly, “robomotion” (wheeled or otherwise performed by mobile home robots) Content (such as “dance” movements or prominent movements), for example, when a user claps hands or verbally commands “begging” or “sitting” or “which one of Lindy Hop” The robot may be started by a command through voice command recognition for the robot, such as responding by performing a robot motion associated with the robot.

  Functional themes may also enhance the primary purpose (or some other purpose) of the mobile robot, and as a non-limiting example, the “Super Robot Cleaner” theme is a home It may also include modes of operation that cause the robot to detect dirt on the floor and use a specific cleaning time ratio to vacuum or wash the found dirt.

  User commands to program actions such as power on / off, start / stop / change cleaning mode, set cleaning duration, start and duration cleaning parameters, or multiple Other user-initiated commands, functions, and / or components defined for use in the present invention were filed on June 24, 2005, under the title "Remote Control Scheduler and Autonomous Robotic Device" Although specifically described in US patent application Ser. No. 11 / 166,891 by Dubrovsky et al., The entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

  For other examples of theme types including various actuations, acoustics, visuals, and other types of selected content, mobile robots may be themed as chess pieces, and these themes are ( A unique body cover (of various possible types such as "Night", "Luke", "Pawn", etc.) and the role of specific pieces on a chess board, for example, as well as for example chess-themed music and audio Network operations, such as cooperating with a central server (or possibly other collective robots that may also function as a chess piece) Bring multiple home robots, place them in an environment simulating a chess board, and play chess pieces against the home robot during a chess game. This high-level “chess” theme is thus visual and / or acoustic, for example, along with chess rules and the manner of operation and movement of various chess pieces (and network routines and functions). In some cases, content and the like are included as well.

  As shown in the non-limiting examples discussed above, the content types utilized and combined into the theme package can be, for example, a virtual breadth similar to the range of potential capabilities that can be implemented by the mobile robot 104. May contain a wide range of materials. The inventor intends that the examples of related theme content shown herein can be generalized for the purposes of the present invention, depending on the type readily recognized.

  Examples of chess and trivia games are examples of providing related theme content that links at least two of a predetermined set of game rules, a set of game pieces or equipment, a game appearance, and game audio.

  The parrot and dog example is an example of providing related theme content that links at least two of a set of movements, appearance, and audio of a given object (ie, an animal or a person). This may be extended to celebrities that are so-called “permissions” linked to well-known entertainment programs or books, characters, etc.

  An example of a valley is an example of providing related theme content that links at least two of a set of predetermined dance movements, tools, appearance, music, and audio.

  The following Country and Western example is an example of providing related theme content that links at least two of a musical genre movement set, tools, appearance, music, and audio.

  Mobile robot users with internet-enabled personal computers, cell phones, PDAs, and other devices can similarly search home robot manufacturer's server via the website, themes, voice, tone, "dance" , Software, or other mobile robots suitable for download and / or purchase. (For example, users who are interested in mitigating potential sources of RF interference in their homes, or that reserve bandwidth for other work, for example, have low RF noise from the manufacturer's website. The user interface presented to the user may be customized to match the robot theme as well, i.e., the theme can be revealed to the robot. Similarly, it includes multimedia content on an online interface associated with a themed robot, which is used by the user to interact with the online interface and / or robot.

  Similarly, the user may select a theme body panel, base station, battery, accessory, new home robot, data bridge, etc. from the website and have these items sent to the user's home. Items such as the main body panel are then ordered together blank by the manufacturer or reseller who operates the website, and then after receiving an order from a home robot user (or sales forecast analysis is The theme design may be applied “just in time” immediately, if appropriate.

  In addition, the theme items include a CD-ROM, floppy disk, “memory stick” type data bridge, in order to send the appropriate corresponding theme content to the home robot upon installation of the ordered theme item. Alternatively, other data media may be involved. Alternatively, the mobile robot manufacturer or reseller omits shipping the data medium with the physical item and instead provides an Internet-based transmission of the corresponding theme content (eg, via a wireless robot network data bridge). Or, for example, when an order is received from a customer whose manufacturer or reseller has a record of having previously purchased the network data bridge 202 (or the customer has the latest version of the appropriate theme content This may be done (if the record indicates that it already has). A mobile robot manufacturer or reseller can reduce the shipping costs if the customer placing the order knows that it has the ability to update the mobile robot 104 via the network data bridge 202, for example. It may be lowered.

  In addition, the online ordering system and the manufacturer's or reseller's website allow customers to use the main panel, audio and music, “dance” routines, and markflash style (and / or as a non-limiting example, lock Various functions and thematic combinations in “mix and match” mode, such as country and western panel theme robots with high-roll “dance” routines and classic piano voice themes. May be offered. For example, country and western theme body panel 502a is linked to music content “A” 510a, and piano theme body panel 502b is linked to music content “B” 510b (which is typically piano related). In addition, replacement of accessories tied to usage and service reminders can be defined, for example, reminders to replace the battery after a certain number of recharge cycles or time. Online services include, as a non-limiting example, recommended replacement parts (to replace the recorded part of the uploaded data that has accumulated enough time or wear time), or (requires replenishment) May be configured to put cleaning agents, cat food, lubricants, or other such substances into the user's online shopping cart or one-click purchase queue (to increase the stock of consumer goods recorded as) .

  Other aspects of such websites may be handled in a conventional manner by allowing online credit cards or check payments and the like. As an advantage, customers can choose from customized home robots or “mix and match” robots (eg, male vs. female) with complete thematic choices, personalized to their own different preferences and styles. (Lion) may be ordered. In addition, by using laser printing or other types of digital images and / or writing on the polymer sheet panel cover discussed above, users can print on their home robots, for example. May provide a slogan, name, or some optional writing and / or image option.

  Further examples allow users to generate or record their own voice or music content and send this custom content to their home robot. To address licensing and unauthorized duplication concerns, home robot manufacturers may use media and / or authoring software protection schemes, for example, so that, for example, only authorized copies of authoring software are allowed. Only content that functions properly and is generated based on an appropriate copy of the software provided by the manufacturer may play correctly on the manufacturer's home robot. As a non-limiting example, public key encryption technology is applied, where each robot has a public key known to the user (eg, a serial number) and a private key known only to the manufacturer. Receive. Thus, as a non-limiting example, when a home robot user purchases a copy of the content authoring software from the manufacturer, the copy received by the home robot user can be played back only by the home robot of the specific user. In addition, there is a case where “watermark” is put on the output content having the encryption key. Other encryption or protection schemes may be used to allow wider or narrower distributions suitable for business and license / copyright protection concerns.

  As a further example, a user may be provided with a content subscription service that allows multiple themes and / or audible or other content to be available to subscriber users on a monthly or other period of time. is there. As an advantage, the user can ensure the soundness of the downloaded content and address copyright concerns.

  FIGS. 9A-C are state diagrams illustrating examples of state machines 900, 930, and 960, a lighthouse peripheral device 102, and a remote control peripheral device for the mobile robot 104, respectively. The Robot Personal Area Network (RPAN) protocol used by the network data bridge 202, mobile robot 104, and peripheral device 102 can be used in a variety of ways depending on the application.

  FIG. 9A shows a high level state diagram that is referenced and aided in the following discussion. The mobile robot 104 provides a unique address to isolate communications with peripherals in other RPAN systems, determines the radio channel used, or reports this operating channel as needed. It is an RPAN master that is responsible for multiple tasks, such as operating on a channel or transmitting a beacon that defines a time window for peripheral devices to communicate with.

  If the mobile robot 104 is conserving power during its hibernation state 902 or charging, it means that the RF network is not active and no beacons are transmitted. While in this state 902, the mobile robot 104 can be awakened by executing the following steps in a fixed loop.

  1. Turn on the radio on the common signaling channel (CSC).

  2. Send an “Active Invite” broadcast message.

  3. Listen to the “Active Invite” message for up to 30 milliseconds.

  4). Receives an “active request” message and exits the dormant state. Or, turn off the radio and sleep for 970 milliseconds.

  Thus, every second, the mobile robot 104 invites a peripheral device such as the peripheral device 102 to wake up. Peripherals that wish to wake up the mobile robot 104 hear an “active invite” message for 1 second and respond immediately with an “activate request” message that wakes the mobile robot 104.

  When the mobile robot 104 wakes up to the active scan state 904, it checks to see if the wireless channel is still active. If the robot sleeps for more than 10 minutes, the radio channel is reselected. This time is chosen to safely exceed the timer for any session. The first step in reselecting channels is to actively scan other RPAN masters and exclude those channels from the set of acceptable channels.

  Active scanning is performed by sending two “ping” messages on the CSC to the broadcast RPAN address. The mobile robot 104 listens for 30 milliseconds after each message for a “ping response”. Each “ping” message is divided in 360 milliseconds.

  After excluding a wireless channel through active scanning, the mobile robot 104 moves to an energy scanning state 906 where candidate channels are scanned for energy levels in the preferred order. In a channel, 100 energy level samples are obtained in about 100 milliseconds. The first channel with an average energy level below an acceptable threshold is chosen as the new working channel. In the unlikely event that no channel meets these criteria, one is randomly selected.

  If the mobile robot 104 is operating its RF network as usual, it is in a normal state 908 and transmits a beacon every 720 milliseconds, referred to as the “beacon period”. In this beacon message, the time window following the beacon valid for the device to communicate is announced. The “contention access period” is set to 220 milliseconds in the normal mode. When not within the contention access period, the robot operates on the common channel to respond to the “ping” message with a “ping response” that announces the radio channel on which the robot operates.

  The motivation for a specific beacon and contention access period is selected as follows: To keep beacon tracking overhead low and to keep radio power consumption low, a very inaccurate clock peripheral ensures that the robot To make it possible to find. This last objective is met by defining one or more time constants that are “ping separation periods”. If the peripheral sends two pings separated by 360 milliseconds, the real time assuming the clock is plus or minus 30% will be somewhere between 252 and 468 milliseconds. On the low side, 252 milliseconds is high enough so that both pings do not occur while the mobile robot 104 is on the working channel. On the high side, 468 milliseconds is less than 500 milliseconds, as mobile robot 104 listens on a common channel that guarantees one to receive during the period. There are other combinations of values that work. Similarly, with high clock accuracy, the duty cycle of the contention access period can be high. These values can be recalculated for other systems as needed.

  The 500 milliseconds that the mobile robot 104 is operating on a common channel is a dead time that is occasionally unacceptable. Such a time is a time during which the mobile robot 104 is driven remotely. The other is the time that the mobile robot 104 sensor is being monitored for diagnosis. If a low sleep state 910 is required, the peripheral device may send a “low sleep request” message that includes a byte indicating the number of seconds used by the low sleep mode. The low pause time can be refreshed with subsequent messages. Similarly, the mobile robot 104 itself may switch to the low sleep mode.

  FIG. 9B shows a state diagram 930 that is referenced and aided in the following discussion. In this section, messages are shown flowing between the mobile robot 104 and the lighthouse peripheral device 102. Peripheral devices such as the lighthouse peripheral device 102 may be simple slave devices.

  Slave 102 begins in a low power consumption state 932 that is designated as “free” in state diagram 930. In this state 932, it periodically wakes up and attempts to join the robot network. This is done by setting the channel to the common signal channel (CSC is the fifth channel). It then sends a broadcast message to ask the robot who is listening to this channel for a response. The response from the robot listening to this message announces the ID on the appropriate channel (zero-based numbering) on the network. This is the same active scanning process described above. Lighthouse 102 gets zero or more responses in a two time window that it listens after sending the request. If nothing is received, go back to sleep and do another active scan after 4 seconds. If more than one is received, choose to join the network of mobile robots where the response message was received with the maximum signal strength value.

  If lighthouse 102 has previously received a join acceptance message from a robot, the robot's RPAN ID is used instead of the broadcast address in the ping message. In this way, the lighthouse 102 does not waste a power wake-up on a robot that is within the RF range but is not its owner, such as a neighbor's mobile robot.

  If lighthouse 102 wants to join the robot's network, but does not have an assigned address, lighthouse 102 can be temporarily used until the robot assigns one (" Select a random MAC address (marked “soft”).

  In the “seek” state 934, the lighthouse 102 changes channels and listens to beacons periodically emitted by the mobile robot 104. You should catch this within a few seconds at most. If this does not happen, it will be sent back to the “free” state 932 due to a timeout (30 seconds).

  If all goes well and a beacon is found, lighthouse 102 proceeds to a “bind” state 936. In the “Bind” state 936 and subsequent states, the lighthouse 102 filters packets from other robots and monitors the link from the MAC layer beacon tracking to the RPAN network. These are shown in the state diagram as “link up” and “link down” events.

  Upon entering this state 936, the robot sends a “Join Request” message. This starts a timer on the lighthouse 102 and is accepted by the network within 5 minutes. When this expires, lighthouse 102 returns to “free” 932. This 5 minute period is known by both the robot 104 and the lighthouse 102, so that whenever the robot 104 receives a join request that results in a soft MAC address collision in the table, each holds a hold. Sends a merge reject message that can be expired and does not need to be acknowledged, and no input is entered into the table. Lighthouse 102 (and possibly other lighthouses with conflicting MAC addresses) follows a merge failure on the state diagram that results in regenerating the MAC address and attempting to bind again.

  If the robot 104 receives the join request message and wishes to delay the binding until another exchange is performed, as in the case of the light house, a join hold message is sent. If an accept or reject is not sent within 3500 milliseconds, a merge pending message is required.

  While acceptance is pending, the light house 102 transmits a 4-bit code with a confined beam (11) indicating that it is not bouncing to the robot. When the robot 104 enters the code 11 beam, it stops and sees a list of lighthouses requesting binding. For each entry, issue a command to wink the code to 12. If the command is not approved or no beam change is seen, the lighthouse 102 is not in range and the robot 104 moves on to the next entry in the list. If the robot 104 successfully references the beam, it sends a join acceptance message that moves the lighthouse 102 to an active state 938 according to the beam command requested by the master. The beam command message includes a 4-bit code in the beam along with the beam status.

  If the lighthouse is in the bound state 936 and moves around the room and throughout the house, it will likely lose contact with the robot 104. If the beam is lost for more than 2 minutes, the beam is turned off and the “free” state 932 is saved, saving power and returning to the lighthouse 102. Since the assigned address is still valid, the binding procedure is skipped when the robot 104 comes back in range.

  After the lighthouse is bound to the robot 104, it will probably lose contact with the robot 104 as it moves around the room and throughout the house. The “roaming recovery” state is designed so that the binding process does not have to be repeated in response to such an expected loss of communication. A gross timeout of 90 minutes is shown in the state diagram that returns the lighthouse to a state that requires rebinding. The assigned MAC address is now considered expired.

  The binding process is designed to eliminate the need to assign static MAC addresses to simple devices that can simultaneously talk to the robot. The assignment of addresses by the robot 104 can simply sum the iterations through the list of valid addresses. If the assigned MAC address expires at some time after binding, the probability of the user making a setting error is greatly reduced.

  For example, if there is a procedure that the user needs to follow to assign a MAC address to the lighthouse 102 (eg, install a battery, place it in front of the robot, and hit a button sequence on the robot) The user may be able to do this successfully for the two included in the initial package. If the robot 104 forgets the last one assigned due to a code update or software problem, it may assign a conflicting address in the future if the user later purchases additional. Alternatively, if the user replaces the robot 104 and then uses it to set up a new lighthouse, the potential for conflicts is very high. Expiring the lighthouse MAC address tends to cure all such problems. One disadvantage of expiring addresses is that the memory of which light house the robot 104 encountered during cleaning is forgotten. Such memory is potentially useful in having the robot 104 clean different rooms on different days. In either case, the age of the MAC address is specified in a “Join Accept” message that gives the robot 104 (and thus a future software revision of the robot 104) the freedom to make such a determination.

  FIG. 9C shows a state diagram 960 for the remote control. The remote device is used to drive the robot 104 and program its schedule. The remote control has a group address and does not require a numerical address.

  When the button is pressed from the power saving state 962, the seek state 934 and the robot search on the common channel are started. The search is performed with a very low power setting if the RPAN ID stored in the non-volatile memory is blank. In other cases, full power is used. In this way, very close robots respond to unpaired remote devices. The search can be described in the following loop, which runs continuously until the robot is found or until the remote device returns to sleep due to inactivity.

  1. The radio is turned on at the CSC corresponding to the active invite message (1 second).

  2. One active scan is performed (360 milliseconds).

  When the active scan collects a response, the remote device moves to the bind state 936 and the robot with the highest signal strength is selected. The remote device switches to the robot channel and quiets by tracking the beacon. Next, it sends a ping message to itself. If a response is obtained, it means that another remote control device is using the group address. If no response is received, the remote device is in the active state 938 and control of the robot 104 is possible.

  If the remote device successfully communicates with the robot 104 over the active channel, the robot's RPAN ID is programmed into the remote controller's non-volatile memory. The remote control device communicates with the robot 104 if it has been awake and the button has been pressed recently (60 seconds). If the beacon is lost for more than 10 seconds, which is how link down is set up on the remote device, it tries to find the robot again.

  The paired remote control devices can be released by attaching the battery with the left drive button pressed and held down for 3 seconds. It is then paired as part of the robot discovery algorithm described above.

  Driving the robot 104 and remotely operating its user interface is accomplished by sending button states to the robot 104 and receiving LED states from the robot 104. These are updated when there is a change and at the refresh interval. In this way, the remote device can be considered a dam terminal.

  In the following, the design of an RF communication system for robotic systems, such as robotic systems 100 and 200, will be described. The communication system performs the following actions: lighthouse and robot, remote control and lighthouse beam control commands cause RF, low power consumption and low power consumption, small RAM / ROM footprint, code And voice downloads, found in such environments, coexisting with common interference, mobile robot 104 development and coexisting with other robots common in a home environment, each layer of the network hierarchy And provide a simple growth path.

  The RF communication stack used in robotic systems 100 and 200 is discussed in a layer-oriented approach that starts from the minimum and ends at the maximum. This approach is based on a 7-layer open system interconnection (OSI) reference model.

  The physical layer uses a 2.4 GHz direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) modem specified in IEEE 802.15.4. The physical layer supports the following characteristics: 16 available channels, energy detection provided on demand (ED), clear channel assessment (CCA) usage energy, carrier detection or both, and packet reception. Link quality indication (LQI) provided in

  The MAC layer provides the ability for devices to send broadcasts and unicast to other devices within radio range. This does not exclude that some topology will be supported in the future. However, there are restrictions on layers above this MAC layer. The MAC layer supports the characteristics of a single master and multiple slaves, where the master has a beacon period and an active period that allows slave devices to track beacons when they know when to listen and when to save power. Can be reported at a higher layer for slaves to track beacons to establish link state and masters to listen on the network establishment channel during beacon idle periods, 16 bits Robot Personal Area Network Identifier (PRAN ID) allows devices to filter packets that are not on the robot network of interest when the channel is shared, and the group identifier in the address is specified Broadcast to a number of device types, and many types of peripheral devices Automatic retry is required include those which are avoided the need for a single MAC address, by the reliability through the collision avoidance algorithm with CCA and random backoff approved for.

  Inclusion at the MAC layer was done for IEEE 802.15.4. This will bring the MAC layer to the level of a wired medium such as half-duplex Ethernet that can use collision detection to tell the transmitter that the packet has reached its destination with a high level of reliability. May be possible. A network layer authorization scheme may be required when the bridge and router between the transmitter and receiver may fall due to resource constraints. Authorization of either the MAC layer or the network layer can be made to meet the needs of this network.

  MAC layer acknowledgment is time sensitive because there is no address information contained in the packet. If an acknowledgment is sent very quickly, it is unlikely that it will collide with a new data packet or be confused as an acknowledgment for a new data packet. The sequence number reduces the possibility of erroneous ACK processing.

  Since the packet contains address information, the acknowledgment at the network layer is not time sensitive. However, more time is wasted sending this additional information, and pauses are further exacerbated when information is passed between layers. If the head of the line block is not used, more state information is potentially needed to remember which packets have not been acknowledged.

  Although a time-constrained process for packets is undesirable, there may be situations where this is used. If other robots or IEEE 802.15.4 devices are operating on the same channel, the receiver may need to parse and discard valid packets that are not intended for it. To the extent that it is delayed, there is a risk that it will not listen if a packet intended for it is received. After taking this into account, it may be appropriate to take steps to relax the imposed real-time constraints, including ACK and retry characteristics at the MAC layer.

  Again, authorization schemes implemented at the MAC or network layer can be activated. If the MAC layer is known to be a problem, an authorization scheme can be implemented at the network layer due to any of the concerns identified above.

  The network layer is responsible for establishing membership in the network. The roles of the master device and the slave device are different at this layer. The network layer supports slave characteristics such as network search using low power active scanning on a common channel, can issue requests to join the network using a temporary random MAC address, and knows the MAC address You can join the network without joining the transaction. The network layer manages the merge requests sent on the common channel, including channel selection when the network is started based on the best available channel and the assignment of MAC addresses to slaves using temporary ones Support the characteristics of the master.

  The 16 available channels are discussed in a zero-based manner (0-15). Channel 4 does not acquire an 802.17b interface in the US or Europe. Thus, it is selected as a common signal channel used in the network merge procedure.

  The defined MAC layer is drawn in IEEE 802.15.4. Some borrowed concepts include the CSMA-CD algorithm, reliability characteristics, and beacon concepts to some extent. The PAN cooperating property is replaced with a higher layer, more targeted approach.

  The MAC layer is based on the presence or absence of a master that generates a beacon that defines a period of active communication that can talk to any device. The slave device tracks this beacon to determine if a robot is present and when it can save power. The mobile robot 104 is a master device and is responsible for transmitting beacons and managing slave devices. Because the slave device tracks the master beacon, it knows when to listen to the next beacon, when it can communicate with other devices, and when to turn off the RF modem to save power.

  The MAC layer header includes a field designed to conflict with the IEEE 802.15.4 frame type field so that such a MAC device rejects as an invalid frame type, but in other cases, multiple RPANs Designed to share a single channel. Because the RPAN ID field is in a certain place in the packet, the receiver can filter on a specific RPAN that is very similar to a virtual LAN (FLAN) in Ethernet.

  Beacons are transmitted by the master at periodic intervals. One reason is to embed information about the slave device's expectation of exchanging messages with the master. This duty cycle control allows for some power savings even during the active operating mode. The second reason for transmitting the beacon is to bring a certain state near the robot. Its purpose is to free application layer software from the burden of doing this work.

  Beacons are sent periodically as specified by the beacon period specified by the beacon itself. Thus, the slave receiving the beacon knows when the next is expected. Similarly, the access period is specified by a beacon. This defines the period during which the master is active on the channel. The slave must pay attention to this time and may shut down its receiver at other times. The sequence number in the beacon allows the slave to detect one or more missing beacons.

  When the master specifies an active period that is short relative to the beacon period, it gives the opportunity to spend idle time listening to the CSC to introduce new peripheral devices into the network. In this way, the beacon period is used in such a way that the peripheral device wakes up, and may be transmitted in a manner related to the period of time for joining the network.

  A typical beacon period may be on the order of 1 second. The beacon message jitter is relatively high considering the random nature of the backoff algorithm. Similarly, slaves must not be burdened with having to manage events with a high level of temporal accuracy. Subject to the clock requirements discussed below, the slave must define a “beacon window”, which is a period centered around the next expected time that a beacon is received. The slave must listen to the beacon during this window. Ideally, the window ends when the expected beacon is received. If no beacon is received, the window ends, but the slave operates during the access period as if one was received. If a beacon is lost in this manner, the clock is inaccurate and then the window is extended for the next beacon. If too many beacons are lost, a beacon loss is declared and the slave simply listens steadily until reacquisition. The loss of the beacon state is similar to the lost link in the Ethernet world. The master transmits a beacon with a time accuracy of less than 0.1%.

  The MAC engine is based on 250 microsecond process ticks to simplify the management of state timers and avoid busy waiting. In order to keep a sufficient part of the processor available for other more important work, it must be a design objective of the implementation to ensure that processing in a single tick never exceeds 125 microseconds. . In 250 microseconds, 7.8 characters can be transmitted at a constant baud rate of 250 kbps. The smallest possible packet, including the preamble and PNY header, is 8 characters long. This means that two CCA functions implemented in consecutive ticks can almost certainly detect ACKs in flight.

  The collision avoidance algorithm is invoked whenever there is a packet ready for transmission. The transmitter delays a random number of backoff periods before activating the CCA function. On the tick where the CCA function is complete, if the CCA returns saying that the channel is clear, the transmitter will begin transmitting.

  The dead time between the end of packet reception and the start of ACK is in the tick between one and two. Therefore, the CCA function that does the best to prevent a step in the ACK is to perform two CCA measurements that separate the ticks and declare the channel clear if both pass. Since the back-off period is designed to be longer than the transmission time of a small packet such as ACK, two ticks are selected.

  When a data frame receives an acknowledgment requested with a matching destination address, the receiver prepares to send an acknowledgment packet if a buffer can be added depending on the application. The receiver waits for one tick to give the transmitter time to switch its transceiver to receive mode, and then acknowledges the first two bytes of the MAC header reflecting the frame type that is converted to an ACK value Send. A transmitter that expects an ACK waits 5 ticks (1.25 milliseconds) to receive a response before attempting transmission again. Retries are performed up to three times. When acknowledgment is required, the transmitter must postpone transmission of the packet if there is not enough time left in the current active period for the receiver to send the acknowledgment.

  The data payload of this network begins with a transport header that consists of bytes that identify a service access point (SAP). This multiplexes different types of services to the same device address. In the past, this has been done using "opcodes".

  Device control, device status request, and device status SAP are related in that the payload message uses the same code point for each device. That is, the device has a publicly available set of control devices and state information elements composed of element codes followed by a known number of element payload bytes. If control is possible on RF, the device control SAP is used to set the value. Controllable and observable items can be interrogated with device status requests. The actual state is given using the device state SAP regardless of whether it is a response type, ie device state request SAP, or no response is required, ie sent naturally. Alarms and other indications may be given in this way.

  The reason for using multiple SAP codes for this related function is that it may become a major part of the overall RF traffic. Thus, the smaller the packet, the higher the transmission reliability. Therefore, for important control and status messages, having two byte headers <device SAP> <control Cmd> or <device SAP> <state Cmd> keeps the PHY and MAC headers as small as possible.

  US Pat. No. 6,594,844 “Robot Fault Detection System” disclosing proximity sensors such as cliff sensors and wall following sensors, iRobot Room Coverage / Cleaning Robot, and General Structure of Main and Edge Cleaning Heads US Pat. No. 6,883,201 discloses an autonomous floor detection system and motion control and coverage operation, including escape operation selected by an arbiter according to the principle of an operation-based robot US Pat. No. 6,809,490, “Method and System for Multi-Mode Coverage for Autonomous Robots,” and US Pat. No. 6,781, disclosing virtual walls, ie robot confinement, using directional beams that simulate walls What is No. 338 "Method and System for Robot Position and Confinement" Respectively, herein incorporated all by reference.

  Details and characteristics of other robots that can be combined with those described in this document include the subject "autonomous coverage robot navigation system" that assigns serial numbers, "modular robots" with serial numbers, serial numbers The entire content of the aforementioned application is hereby incorporated by reference, although it may be found in US patent applications filed with this specification in terms of having “mobility of the coverage robot”.

  Multiple implementations have been described. However, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a power-saving robot system. FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a mobile robot. FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a peripheral device. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robot system. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a network data bridge. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robot system including a mobile robot, in which a computer transmits a theme to the mobile robot. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a main body panel theme for a mobile robot. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a mobile robot including a network data bridge. FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a mobile robot and an example of a network data bridge connected to another network via a network passing through a power line in a building. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a robot system including a manufacturer server and an authorized content provider server. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a robot system including a supplier and a manufacturer server. FIG. 9 is a state diagram illustrating an example of a state machine for a mobile robot.

Claims (21)

At least one peripheral device (102) placed in the environment,
A power source (1022);
A wireless communication component (1024);
The peripheral device has an active mode (938) in which the peripheral device is fully operational and a hibernation mode (932) in which the peripheral device is at least partially inactive, and the wireless communication component (1024) is in the hibernation mode (932) A peripheral device comprising a control device (1026) that can be activated in
A mobile robot (704),
A drive system (1042) for moving the robot (104) around the environment;
A wireless communication component (1044);
Communicating with the peripheral device (102) via the wireless communication component (1024, 1044), and the wireless communication component (1024, 1044) and the robot (104) of the peripheral device (102) are in mutual range A robot system (100) comprising: a mobile robot comprising: a control device (1046) having an operating routine (904) for temporarily operating the peripheral device (102) from the hibernation mode (932). ).   When the wireless command communication component (1024) of the peripheral device (102) receives a robot ping from the wireless command communication component (1044) of the robot (104), the control device (102) of the peripheral device (102) The system of claim 1, wherein 1026) switches to operate in the active mode (938).   When the robot (104) is placed outside the communication range between the wireless command communication component (1044) of the robot (104) and the wireless command communication component (1024) of the peripheral device (102). The system of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the controller (1026) of the peripheral device (102) operates in the hibernation mode (932).   The system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein when the peripheral device (102) goes into a low power state, the control device (1026) of the peripheral device (102) switches to the hibernation mode (932).   Any of claims 1-4, wherein the environment is a room and / or the robot (104) comprises a floor cleaning robot and / or the peripheral device (102) is stationary in the environment. The system described in.   Gateway where the peripheral device (102) is arranged to transmit a gateway marking release (106a) in a navigation beacon provided in a gateway between a first boundary area and a second boundary area in the environment The system according to any of the preceding claims, comprising the navigation beacon (102) with a beacon emitter.   The wireless communication component (1024, 1044) communicates at a transmission wavelength that allows the robot (104) and the peripheral device (102) to leave the line of sight during communication. A system according to any of the above.   The wireless communication component (1024, 1044) communicates at a transmission wavelength required to enter the line of sight during communication between the robot (104) and the peripheral device (102). A system according to any of the above.   The peripheral device (102) cannot change the mode from the hibernation mode (932) to the active mode (938) until a line of sight enters between the robot (104) and the peripheral device (102). A system according to any of claims 1 to 6 or claim 8.   The wireless communication component (1024, 1044) communicates in a point-to-point protocol while excluding routines and / or the wireless communication component (1024, 1044) is functional The system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the peripheral device (102) communicates commands that can be interpreted to start the device.   11. An occasional polling and / or occasional polling of a quiet robot (104) while the peripheral device (102) is in the hibernation mode (932). The system described in.   The system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the peripheral device (102) is a base station or a mobile device.   The robot (104) measures a signal strength of a wireless transmission communicated by the wireless communication component (1024) of the peripheral device (102) to determine a distance from the peripheral device (102). Item 13. The system according to any one of Items 1 to 12.   14. A system according to any of claims 1-7 or 9-13, wherein the wireless communication components (1024, 1044) communicate on a radio frequency.   15. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a wireless transmission communicated by the robot wireless communication circuit (1044) and / or the peripheral device wireless communication circuit (1024) includes identification information. A network data bridge (202),
A broadband network interface (210) that is connectable to an internet protocol network (706) and that communicates in accordance with the internet protocol;
A wireless command interface (204) that is connectable to a wireless command protocol network and performs communication transferred under the command protocol;
A data bridge component (202) that extracts a serial command received from the Internet protocol via the broadband network interface (210), applies the command protocol thereto, and broadcasts the serial command via the narrowband wireless interface. )When,
A network bridge comprising:
A mobile robot (104),
A drive system (1042) for moving the robot (104) around the environment;
A wireless command communication component (1044) for receiving the serial command transmitted from the network data bridge (202);
A robot system (200, 400, 700) comprising a mobile robot. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one peripheral device (102) placed in the environment.
A wireless command communication component (1024) for receiving serial commands transmitted from the robot (104) and the network data bridge (202);
An active mode (938) in which the peripheral device (102) is fully operational and a hibernation mode (932) in which the peripheral device (102) is at least partially inactive, the wireless communication circuit (1024) being And a control device (1026) that can be activated in the hibernation mode (932).   When the peripheral wireless command communication component (1024) receives a robot ping from the wireless command communication component (1044) of the robot (104), the control device (1026) of the peripheral device (102) is in the active mode. The system according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the system switches to (938).   When the robot (104) is placed outside the communication range between the wireless command communication component (1046) of the robot (104) and the wireless command communication component (1024) of the peripheral device 102, The system of any of claims 16-18, wherein the control device (1026) of a peripheral device (102) operates in the hibernation mode (932).   The system according to any of claims 16 to 19, wherein when the peripheral device is in a low power state, the control device (1026) of the peripheral device (102) switches to the hibernation mode (932).   21. An occasional poll to a quiet robot (104) and / or an occasional listening to a robot ping while the peripheral device (102) is in the hibernation mode (932). (200, 400, 700) described in the above.

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